A Class Act

I had hoped to get this post up this morning, but Baby C decided I needed to have a crack of dawn wake up call instead!  So much for thinking I could write a post, catch up on email and drink a cup of coffee at 5am in PEACE and QUIET!

I have always said I wanted to keep this blog real.  It is not always pretty or fun to be a working mom with a side business, but it is my life and my decisions and I need to own them as an example to my children.  My post today is about someone that I think also keeps it real.  To many we seem like odd friends:  she is almost 10 years younger than I am (that alone was scary to type!), we probably don't see eye to eye on a lot of issues, she lives in another country and she like Bojangles chicken and coconut, but she is a dear friend and I have so much respect for her!

Today is a special day.  My former friend in blogland, now friend in real life Melissa turned 29!  That seems like forever ago to me, but that is a post for another day.  As a mom you sometimes think, if my child can grow up to be like that person I will be so proud.  Well if Mini K is anything like Melissa when she grows up, I will be bursting with pride and able to relax about my parenting skills.

Melissa has done something in 29 years that many people cannot say they have accomplished in a LIFETIME....she has lost 100 pounds!  For me though, it is not how much weight she lost, but how she lost it:

1.  The hard way, without tv shows, pills, surgery, but calories in and a lot of exercise to burn those calories off.

2.  Honestly, she shared her journey through her blog and was HONEST.

3.  With SELF ESTEEM.  This, my friends, is the part that makes me so proud.  She believed in herself and knew she was much much more than a number on a scale or a reflection in a mirror.  If we as mothers can teach our daughters one thing, it is this and I pray Mini K can have this same mental toughness in the face of all of society's pressures.

4.  Gracefully.  I know she will read this and think I have lost my marbles, but M you are graceful.  You handle setbacks with a smile and a positive attitude, you always remember that there is a tomorrow and you never forgot that there is a world out there beyond the scale.

Melissa, I hope you had a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY, full of coconut cake, pink bicycles and most of all surrounded (virtually and in person) by people who love you!

If Mini K grows up to be anything like Melissa, the world will be in good hands!

I wish I could say that I had planned things properly and her present arrived to her in London on her birthday.  I cannot.  I promise it is on its way now!